Greater income inequality is reducing economic demand, hindering the current recovery, and limiting future growth, speakers told the Trade and Development Board (TDB). They said governments should help to reverse the trend.

The interdependent nature of the world economy requires a coordinated effort to re-energize the faltering recovery from the global financial crisis, panellists told the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board yesterday afternoon under the agenda item on “Interdependence: Coordinating stimulus for global recovery.”

The University American College Skopje (UACS) of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has joined the UNCTAD Virtual Institute as its 78th institutional member, bringing the count of countries represented in the Vi to 41.

Trade Ministers from landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan praised UNCTAD's consistent support to their members and requested UNCTAD to continue to assist LLDCs in their efforts to become members of the World Trade Organization.

A strong correlation of the prices in several commodity markets with prices in other speculative financial markets as early as 2009 has been found by UNCTAD researchers. The findings are summarized in the latest UNCTAD policy brief, titled “Financialization is the root cause of oil and commodity price volatility.”

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) distributed a statement focussed on policy choice and policy space to the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board which began its 2-week session yesterday. The statement was coordinated with other civil society organisations involved with trade and development issues.

The 16th African Oil, Gas and Minerals Trade and Finance Conference and Exhibition (OILGASMINE) will be organized in 2013 by UNCTAD in cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Niger and in partnership with Cubic Globe Ltd.

A national workshop in Cape Verde concluded that the impact of macro-economic policies is not "gender neutral," and that women in Cape Verde should be granted more opportunities to contribute to the development and economic growth of their country.

The high-level segment of UNCTAD's Trade and Development Board today held in-depth discussions on "Growth with poverty reduction: What can Africa learn from other regions?” Reduced dependence on commodities and more industrialization are needed to reverse the pattern of growth that does not create enough jobs, panellists said.

In his farewell remarks to the Trade and Development Board of UNCTAD as outgoing President today, Ambassador Anthony Mothae Maruping of Lesotho called for a spirit of "otherness" in the work of delegations at UNCTAD.